Belles-lettres

Critical edition of the Raghuvamsa with Vallabhadeva's commentary, the oldest in existence (10th century)

A joint-project involving Harunaga Isaacson (Hamburg) and Dominic Goodall. The publication of the second of three volumes is set for 2010 (Groningen Oriental Studies). Following a request from Professor Richard Gombrich, editor of the Clay Sanskrit Library, the two scholars have begun work on an English translation of their textus criticus of this literary epic. The translation will be completed by December 2009.

Csaba Dezsö (Budapest) and Dominic Goodall are translating a 13th century Sanskrit novel in which a madam recounts the picaresque adventures of a number of courtesans with a view to providing instruction for a young protégée. An initial draft of the translation has already been completed. The book will appear in 2010 in the Clay Sanskrit Library (New York University Press).

Critical edition of Rajasekhara's Balaramayana (9th-10th centuries).

Director: H.N. Bhat; Collation of sources: V. Lalitha. A project concerning the critical edition of the play was initiated prior to 2004. The first ever critical edition of the Balaramayana, based on approximately thirty manuscripts from all over India, as well as on previously published non-critical editions, and on textual references in other works, will appear in the first volume. Work on the first six (out of ten) acts is complete. A second volume will include the first English translation of the play ever published (of which H.N. Bhat has completed an initial draft, indexes, and an introduction in which the play's literary fortune in India will be examined). This important work will be published in 2011.

An edition of Purnasarasvati's 15th century commentary on the Visnupadadikesastotra

Initiated by N.V.P. Unithiri (University of Calicut), the project is now being carried on by H.N. Bhat and S.A.S. Sharma. The elegant style and highly original literary approach of the author, an exceptionally talented commentator, are widely recognised and appreciated. The short work (the poem of which it is a commentary is a mere fifty verses long) will be ready for publication in late 2009. The introduction will include a discussion about when the commentary was written, an issue which is still a subject of controversy.

Grammar and Poetics

A project initiated in the last four-year period headed by François Grimal working in collaboration with V. Venkataraja Sarma (EFEO), S. Lakshminarasimhan (IFP), S. Anandavardhan (IFP), KV. Ramakrishnamacharya and Murali Nandi (Rajasthan Sanskrit University, Jaipur), and Jaddipal V. Viroopaksha (Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati). Paninian grammar, the first tool applied by Indian Pandits to explicate Sanskrit texts, is still very much in use. The aim of the project is to demonstrate in a practical and detailed manner using examples from four major commentaries on Paninian grammar, the way in which the system works and the ends to which it is put. Files elaborated in the preceding period will be revised and updated with a view to publishing a two-volume work: Paniniyavyakaranodaharanakosa/The Book of Primary Derivations and Paniniyavyakaranodaharanakosa/The Book of Secondary Derivations.

Study, Translation and New Edition of Rajacudamani Diksita's Kavyadarpana ("The Mirror of Poetry")

François Grimal and S.L.P. Anjaneya Sarma are at the head of a project whose objective is to produce the first ever translation into a Western European language of a commentary - in this case a commentary that takes the form of a rewriting - on Mammata's Kavyaprakasa, a fundamental treatise on second millennium Sanskrit poetics. The aim of the programme is to complete the revision of the text and the translation up to and including Chapter 6. The programme will culminate in the publication of a new edition and translation of the Kavyadarpana (I-VI).

Summer Readings: "International Classical Sanskrit Summer Camp"

The first two editions of this intensive summer camp on classical Sanskrit were held in Pondicherry in 2003 and 2007. Dominic Goodall intends to organise a third edition at the EFEO Pondicherry Centre in July 2011. As is our custom, the camp will reflect ongoing projects. The choice of most of the texts to be examined will depend on the scholarly projects described below.